


The Boy Under The Stairs

by bumblybean



Category: Call the Midwife
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22980718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bumblybean/pseuds/bumblybean
Summary: Sister Bernadette finds a young boy who has wandered away from home.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	The Boy Under The Stairs

**Author's Note:**

> OK. I've been a lurker in the CTM Fandom for a while now and finally decided to contribute.  
> Be kind as this is the first thing I haven't written for school in 2 years. So long in fact I had to make a new account.  
> I'd love to turn this into a series as I love Shelagh and Timothy's relationship.  
> I also have another fic in the works that will actually have some turnadette in it but i have to find time to finish.

She was on her way back from her appointments. It was dark, almost eight o’clock she would have guessed. She liked this time of night, most people had retreated to their houses, the only noise to be heard came from the docks. It was peaceful, she had elected to walk with her bike instead of riding it, taking her time to enjoy the night.

She wasn’t sure when exactly she heard it. She was almost sure she had imagined it until it happened a second time. The smallest whimper coming from nearby. She parked her bike against a building going in search of its source, which she found hidden underneath a staircase. A young boy, no older than seven or eight, curled up against the wall. He sniffled when he saw her and she smiled kindly.

“Are you ok?” She called to him and he nodded. “You seem upset.” No response came from him. “Are you lost? I can help you look for home if you are.” He looked up at her with wide eyes.  
“Are you a nun?” He asked and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Yes, I am. My name is Sister Bernadette, and yours is?” She smiled at him trying to seem friendly so that the boy wouldn’t shy away.

“Timothy.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Timothy.” She sat on the ground near him. “Are you hurt? I’m a nurse.”

“No.”

“Are you lost?”

“No.”

“Then why are you hiding under there?”

“My mummy’s sick and my dad is sad. He says she won’t get better because the sickness is too bad.” He stares at the ground instead of looking at her. She can tell he’s trying to hide the sorrow on his face, to no avail.

“Oh, are you sad?”

“She doesn’t seem sick.” She frowns slightly.

“Not everyone who is sick seems sick.” 

“My dad doesn’t like to talk about it.”

“Men often don’t like to discuss their feelings…” He sighed slightly.

“I wish he would.”

“I know you do.” She smiles leaning up against the wall. “I can talk with you if you’d like…” She smiles at him. When he nodded slightly she sighed. “I know how you feel you know.” He looked up at her suddenly with his eyes wide. “My mother got sick when I was very young as well.”

“Did she?” She nods smiling at him.

“Things may feel like they’re falling apart now, but it will feel better. Not today, and not tomorrow, but someday.” He smiles slightly at her.

“Promise?” She nods smiling.

“Yes. Just give your father some time. It’s all a part of grief.”

“But she’s still here! He shouldn’t be sad yet!” He exclaimed and she furrowed her brow slightly leaning against the wall. 

“Just because she’s still here doesn’t mean he isn’t grieving.” She frowns slightly. “He loves her, he’s probably scared of being without her.” He frowns shaking his head.

“He shouldn’t be, I’m still here.” 

“Yes, and I’m sure he’s very grateful for that.”

“It doesn’t seem like it, he never comes home…” She frowns slightly as the boy started to play with a rock on the ground.

“I’m sure he wants to, he probably doesn’t want to face what is waiting for him when he gets there.”

“Why?” The boy looks at her puzzled.

“Because someone he loves is very sick. It’s not an easy thing to witness.”

“But he’s always around sick people. He’s a doctor.”

“Even so, it’s different when it’s someone you love.”

“Thats stupid.” The boy looked back at the ground continuing to play with the pebble.  
“It is, but that’s just how people work.” She watched for a change of expression on his face as he looked at her. 

“Did she get better?”

“Who?”

“Your mum?”

“Oh… No, she didn’t.”

“I’m sorry.” She smiles slightly as the boy looks down at the ground as if he had said something he shouldn’t.

“It's ok.” The boy looks up at her clearly puzzled. “I’m lucky that I was young enough that I don’t remember much of when she was sick…”

“That’s sad.”

“It is, but it helped I suppose.”

“Do you miss her?” He looks up at her shyly.

“I do… but I know that wherever her soul is she is looking after me. It’s always brought me comfort.” The boy nods.

“That’s good I suppose…” He pauses looking curiously at her. “Are you one of the nuns my dad works with? He’s a doctor and he works with the nuns at no-na-tos.”

“Nonnatus?” The boy's eyes brightened as she said it.

“Yes! That!!”

“It is possible, but we work with many doctors and I still don’t know all of them.”

“Oh.”

“You should get home. I’m sure your parents are worried about you.”

“No, mum is probably asleep and my dad isn’t home.” She furrowed her brow slightly. 

“I see, but it's getting late? I’ll walk with you if you’d like.” She smiled at him and his eyes lit up slightly.

“Would you?” He smiled.

“Of course.” The boy smiled standing up off the ground.

“Do you know your way?” She smiled making sure the boy wasn’t lost. He nodded, smiling up at her. 

“I do. It’s this way.” He smiles leading the way as she follows after him.

“Do you often explore this far out on your own.” She questioned him worriedly.

“Sometimes, I’m in scouts I have survival skills.” She does her best to stifle the giggle she wants to let out. “Akela teaches us lots of things.”  
“That’s good, but I hardly think the things Akela teaches will protect you from the cold of the night when you don’t have a blanket.”

“I could build a fire!” The boy smiled proudly.

“In the middle of the street? What would be your kindling?”

“Cardboard, you can find it in almost every dumpster.”

“Indeed but more often than not it’s going to be wet with other things it’s been tossed with. I don’t think you’ll catch a very big flame from that.”

“I could find sticks!”

“And what if it had started raining?”

“Uh…”

“Exactly.” She smiles as he walks ahead slightly. “So were you just going to not go home?”

“I don’t know. My dad would have found me eventually anyway, I wouldn't want mum to worry. She has enough to be worried about.”

“You’re very sweet to think about her.”

“Dad says she isn’t getting better, so I have to.” She smiled at him.

“It’s still sweet. I’ve met a lot of young men who wouldn’t give much thought to the matter.”

“I still left.”

“Not for long. It's unhealthy for a young boy to be cooped up inside I don’t care what the circumstance is.” She smiled in an attempt to make him feel better. “You can hardly be there all the time, and neither can your father.”

“I don't want her to be sick anymore.” 

“I understand.”

“Do you?” He stopped looking at her with his eyes wide.

“I do.”

“How old were you when your mum got sick?”

“I was five, I was seven when she died. But she was sick for much longer than we knew she was.”

“Oh.”

“It's alright. It doesn’t bother me much anymore.”

“Promise?”

“Yes. I have very fond memories of my mother as I’m sure you do as well.” The boy smiled slightly nodding. They continued walking as he chatted excitedly with her. When they made it to the small flat the boy hugged her before running back inside to his mother. The little nun walked away with a smile on her face. She became quite fond of the boy in their short conversation and hoped she would see him again.

Imagine her surprise when he showed up at the clinic a few weeks later smiling with bright eyes up at the doctor who she had come to think of as her friend.


End file.
